Your Brain on Improv & the Genius of Play

I thoroughly enjoyed a fascinating fifteen minutes of learning when Carolyn McCulley posted this TED video from a scientist and jazz musician who puts improv artists in a functional MRI and studies how the brain acts during creative tasks:

It was particularly timely for me because:

1. I had just reviewed The Scientific Method at co-op this week with my “little kids” (ages 7 to 10) and my pre-teens and teens—and discussed the epistemological limits of the scientific method with them. So the concepts of what is knowable and how we know what we know and how we study what we know were all heavy on my mind this week.

2. I had just had another brief conversation with Sophia (my seven year-old) about the genius of creative play and another brief conversation with my husband, Fred, about how the girls and I are structuring our day. I’m prayerfully trying to discern a wise balance between all of the structured learning Sophie is currently engaged in (as a grammar student processing lots o’ facts about history, learning a great deal of Latin, cranking out the math facts, singing songs about grammar rules and geography, reading poetry and memorizing hymns, working hard on piano and violin, etc. etc.) and the fact that she is little and she loves (and I love) to just have unstructured, creative, fun, play. (This is especially true because we also share our day with an extremely active 18 month-old who is a playtime factory! And a Golden Retriever who just wants to join in the fun too …)

So I’m mulling some more about all of these things as I enjoy the peace and quiet of the early morning hours. And I’m also remembering why I came within a few weeks of entering a PhD program in psychology way back in 1992—Man! This stuff is fascinating. What a joy it is to learn.

How I pray that I can help my daughters (and my “spiritual” sons and daughters—the young people in my church with whom I am privileged to have covenantal relationships) to delight in learning too.

Blessings on your day! I hope you enjoy many creative things and the Creator of it all—

Your friend,
Tara B.